Page 134 of A Duchess for his Baby

She was quiet for a moment.

He reached across and took her hand.

“I love you,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “I loved you when I was telling myself it was practical. I loved you when I let you leave, and I stood at that window and felt the most clear-headed misery of my entire life.”

“That is a terrible way to discover something.” She laughed.

“It was extremely effective.” He shrugged.

Isadora looked at the warm, open face of the man she was completely and irrevocably in love with.

“I love you,” she said.

He exhaled slowly. “I find that I am still not prepared for it when you say it.”

“Good.” She moved closer. “Now you know how it feels.”

He laughed, then reached up and gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Then kissed her softly. Slowly. The kiss of a man with nowhere to be and nothing left to prove, who simply wanted this—wantedher—and was no longer remotely surprised by how much.

She kissed him back with everything she had.

His forehead came to rest against hers when they drew apart. Neither of them moved.

“A baby,” he said with wonder.

She nodded. “In spring.”

He pressed his lips to her hair. “Are you frightened?”

“A little,” she admitted. “Are you?”

“Enormously,” he said. “But I also never wanted anything more.”

She looked up at him. “You have been a wonderful father,” she said. “Since the very beginning, with Violet. Before you knew you were going to be one. Before you had decided it.” She paused. “I want you to know that I see it. All of it. Every time you are with her, I see it.”

He looked down at her with eyes that were warm and so tender.

“Isadora,” he said after a while.

“Yes?”

“I would like to stay here indefinitely.”

“We have a bedroom,” she reminded him.

“I know.” He didn’t move. “In a moment.”

She smiled against his cheek.

“In a moment,” she agreed.

The fire burned.

The house was still.

They stayed exactly where they were.

The End?